Almost Closing Time

I'm not exactly in a happy mood right now. As I write this, Closing Time is airing on BBC1, the latest episode of this show I watch, I might have mentioned it at some point, Doctor Who. I am, shockingly, not watching it. This is because my TV decided that ninety seconds into the new episode would be the perfect place to, of its own accord, switch to Channel 4 and stay there. Without changing back. At all.

So, rather than throw things at other things and cry tears of rage, I've decided to use the 45 minutes I've got until the episode is up on Iplayer to write something interesting and entertaining. Or maybe just ramble for three quarters of an hour. And because I can't get it off of my mind right now, I might as well talk about Doctor Who. After all, it's not like I usually talk about that or anything.

Why am I so obsessed with Doctor Who, anyway? I suppose the obvious answer is the escapism. Escapism is, in my opinion, quite simply the best thing that humanity has ever created. People read books or watch TV for different reasons; to be entertained, to be informed, to make themselves laugh or cry. I read books and watch TV because I want to escape. There's a reason I read science fiction and fantasy almost exclusively, and there's a reason I dislike stories set entirely within the real world. Fiction is, for me, a chance to go somewhere else, to live a life that's completely different from my own. Why would you want to read a story about real things that could really happen? That's no fun. You could just go out and live that story, rather than sitting at home reading it. But sci-fi, and fantasy, these are the stories that we can only ever experience through fiction, and that is why I think they're the most important genre of storytelling. This escape from real life in favour of a tailor-made reality, this escapism, is the draw for pretty much every form of media I enjoy. Books? Neil Gaiman novels and Harry Potter, or Skulduggery Pleasant. TV? Being Human, Misfits, and of course Doctor Who. None of these stories could ever happen, not in a million years. But through the minds of their creators, on screen or in print, they do. That's the appeal, you see?

So, I think that's part of my obsession with Doctor Who explained. It's journeys through time and space, constant danger and laughter and adventure, are utterly absurd, and of course that's why I love it. But I don't think that's all there is to it. Why is Doctor Who special in my heart, above all of those other stories I mentioned? Is it the endless multiera, multigenre, multimedia format that allows it to do anything and everything? Well, perhaps that has something to do with it, but that's not the real reason. Nope, the real reason is the Doctor himself.

He's a character etched into my mind, a fictional being more important to me than any real world celebrity. The core concepts of the character absolutely match with my idealised image of who I want to be as a person. He's the most intelligent person in any room at any given moment, and he uses his intelligence both to baffle people and to help them. He's confident and easy-going, always fighting for equality and justice and all things right. He's the person I want to be like, more than anyone else in existence.

aaaaaaaaaaand on that note, having gone from 'enthusiastic fanboy' to 'creepy obsessive', Closing Time has finally showed up on Iplayer and I'm off to watch it. So I guess this brings this ramble to a 'close', eh? In conclusion, I watch Doctor Who and I love Doctor Who not only because it's brilliant in every aspect EVER, but also because the Doctor is as perfect a character as has ever been created. Not in the flawless, Mary-Sue kind of way (though in my mind, he often is like that), but in a brilliantly crafted, work-of-art kind of way.

You will see that the title of this blog is 'Not Entirely Incoherent'. This is because parts of the blog make perfect sense. Unfortunately, this post has not been one of those parts. Thanks for reading!